Williams finds health, zen before NZ tour

Robbie Williams has been forced to change his lifestyle after recent health issues.

There was once a time when, Robbie Williams freely admits, he wandered about the planet, going from one existential crisis to the next.

"You know - the archetypal bullshit pop-star stuff," Williams says.

"Why is it like that, the stadium and all the people and the records and the houses and the cars, and why am I so sad?"

But fatherhood quickly put paid to all that.

The former Take That singer's children, five-year-old Teddy and three-year-old Charlie, have helped him approach pop superstardom in the same way as others approach their own jobs - just another way to feed his family.

And that mission will take the Briton all the way south to New Zealand and Australia over the next three weeks as part of his latest global tour.

"The kids come and it's like, okay, it's about them - Daddy goes to work, Daddy's got a great job and let's not worry about it too much," Williams says.

"Let's just go and provide for them.

"So yeah - everything has changed."

The 44-year-old Williams will hold 11 concerts across the Antipodes in the coming weeks, just months after cancelling Russian tour dates due to various health issues, including a mystery illness and severe back pain.

In part due to his health woes and in part due to his wish to stay healthy for Teddy and Charlie, he has since converted to a vegan lifestyle.

He also does yoga and pilates each day.

The Stoke-on-Trent native says he's now back to his concert-nailing best, and was looking forward to finishing off his tour on a high.

He'd play tracks from the entirety of his 28-year career.

"It's just time I look after myself a bit better - I love my job, I want to be able to do it for a long time," Williams says.

"I have something in me that wants to f*** everything up and obliterate myself, it's inside me and (something) I'm working through on a day-to-day basis.

"I can either feed that wolf or not feed that wolf, and I'm choosing not to feed that wolf right now and look after myself because I like life."

Williams will hold his first concert in Auckland on Wednesday, followed by Dunedin on Saturday and then nine across Australia.